By Marie Carr, Partner, Diamond Management and Technology Consultants

In working with a number of large insurers we have identified five fundamental issues that are holding them back from reaching their multi-channel marketing goals. The CIO can play a critical role in overcoming those barriers and helping the company improve its growth and profitability.Customer Ownership - Distribution, Marketing, Customer Service, and other areas all lay claim to owning the customer but the result is often internal disputes, gaps in service, and overlapping spending.

Successful multi-channel marketing investments depend on a clear, consistent understanding among all stakeholders about sales and service. That's where information comes in. In many cases, the CIO is in the best position to collect information about customer behavior and to use the analytical tools necessary to analyze data across all channels. The IT department can be the honest broker who provides the information critical to decision-making.

Customer-Based Channel Alignment - An efficient multi-channel strategy requires that customers are at the center of operations and channels are aligned around specific customers based on target performance. That's difficult when most insurers, because of the large scale of their operations, have ended up with discrete functional or product silos. The CIO can take the lead in facilitating cross-channel sales and service by opening up (or removing) silos of information and technology.

Marketing/Distribution Alignment - Few insurers have managed to fully integrate sales and marketing strategies with distribution channels. Deficient technical integration and disconnected data/information flows prevent companies from aligning marketing strategies, customer needs and preferences, and channel capabilities. The CIO is in the perfect position to oversee the integration of all information-dependent strategic initiatives and ensure that all channels are aligned with the overall multi-channel marketing strategy.

Web-Centricity - Rapid and rich information-sharing is the very thing that makes a multi-channel strategy work but some organizations are investing millions in their online presence with little thought about integrating these capabilities with the insurer's top-performing agencies. Don't let the web become another silo. The CIO should ensure that the company invests in technologies that will enable information sharing across channels.

Incentives - Leading a multi-channel marketing initiative is much easier when all stakeholders have strong reasons to get on board but too often the incentives that drive behavior often aren't properly aligned. For example, if call center performance is measured on the volume of calls customer service reps handle per hour there's no incentive to cross-sell or gather more analytical insights about customer preferences. Senior management must take the lead to set policies, metrics, and an organizational structure so that revenue attribution is incented across channels to enable complementary, multi-channel efforts.

Focus, Focus, Focus CIOs that have been successful in integrating marketing channels exercise patience and focus on those few highly impactful areas that will deliver the best results.

First, begin by understanding the efficiency and effectiveness of each channel. This means putting in place agreed upon models and metrics regarding channel efficiency, channel effectiveness, channel profitability, and average customer lifetime value.

Second, focus on matching the right consumers to the right channel with the right products and services in the most efficient way possible. With new advances in information analytics insurers can now layer demographic information with geographic, behavioral, and attitudinal data. Combining data with persona and segment information makes it possible to precisely identify target segments for each channel and accurately measure the performance of the channel and the target segment.

And third, start synchronizing online and offline channels. This cannot be done overnight but the CIO should start working with their CMO counterpart to prioritize the points of synchronization. Begin by identifying the highest value customer segments and the critical points where they interact with the company. Integrate the channels at points where they create the biggest impact on customer conversion, revenue and retention.

Editor's Note: This article is Part II of a two-part series. Part I was Leading Through the Morass of Multi-Channel Marketing, published at Insurance & Technology's blog Jan. 12, 2010.

About the Author:Marie Carr is an insurance industry partner at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants with more than 20 years of experience advising senior marketing, distribution, and sales executives about how to create business strategies that leverage technology and information to create market differentiated experiences for their customers and channel partners.Successful multi-channel marketing investments depend on a clear, consistent understanding among all stakeholders about sales and service. That's where information comes in. In many cases, the CIO is in the best position to collect information about customer behavior and to use the analytical tools necessary to analyze data across all channels.